Step 1 Science 2022-2023

 

Living Things 

This is always a popular topic covered in every class, senior infants linked Living Things to their Halloween work this year!

Energy and Forces 

5th class learned about the force of gravity. They made helicopters and carried out simple but fun experiments.

5th Class carried out an investigation on paper spinners. The children investigated whether the size of the paper spinner and the way the wings were folded effected the speed at which the paper spinner fell to the ground.

The boys and girls discovered the following:

1) The larger the paper spinner, the slower it fell to the ground because of its larger surface area therefore more air resistance

2) Changing the way the wings on the paper spinner were folded caused the direction of rotating of the paper spinner to change from clockwise to anti clockwise.

Have a look below at the boys and girls carrying out their investigations.

Environmental Awareness and Care 

Our classes all worked with Norman from Tidy Towns this year in planting projects for the community. It was great fun and we always look forward to seeing our seeds and plants growing around the village. 

We were all very impressed with our senior infants this year who noticed that the weather was getting colder towards the end of the year and realised that the birds were finding it more difficult to get food. So, they made some bird food, put it outside their classroom and watched as the birds came to have a feast! It was lots of fun to watch!

Second Class took part in the litter pickers project this year. They are doing agreat job keeping our school tidy and the environment around us litter free.

 In October 1st and 2nd Class pupils had great fun learning about the various ways they can help to keep their environment clean and safe. The children had great fun listening to the story 'We Want Our Park Back' which they watched via a Zoom call. They were also encouraged to create their own drawing of the main character 'Harry the Hare'.

 The children in Ms Fahy's Ist/2nd  class also had great fun planting cress and then writing the procedure they followed! 

Learning about the environment around us during a winter walk earlier this year in 1st and 2nd class:

 Materials 

Miss Meaney's Senior Infants  investigated materials during their work in Aistear this year, they were expoloring sounds and created their very own musical instruments using lots of different materials 

Aistear involved recognising sounds in the environment, creating a musical instrument, making playdough animals and creating a zoo in small world. We had lots of fun. We also listened to different types of classical music, learned about the composer Mozart and painted our response to a piece of classical music by Mozart.

SPACE WEEK:

Ms Fahy's 1st and 2nd class took part in space week activities this year, they learned all about the solar syytem and impressed us all with their fantastic projects!

SCIENCE WEEK:

All classes took part in Science Week activities, it is one of our favourite weeks, here is a few examples of what classes did this year:

6th class - Lava Lamps 

1st/2nd class - Friction 

 The children are always eager to take part in STEM challenges, for Science Week they discovered the attraction of Friction and how we engage in friction in our daily routines, e.g. walking and running!

We had great fun detecting how much friction is present in a range of household materials such as wool, cotton, paper and kitchen roll!

Science Week – 4^th Class

Air Pressure Experiment 1

We put a scrunched up, dry piece of paper in a cup. We pushed the cup, open side down, into a sink full of water. We took care not to let any air bubbles come out. When we lifted the cup back out of the sink, the paper was still dry. We learned that the air pressure, inside the cup, did not allow any water to get in. You can read more details in the report below.

Air Pressure Experiment 2

We filled a cup all the way to the top. We placed a piece of card on top of the cup so that it was touching the surface of the water. We then slowly turned the cup upside down. The surface tension of the water made a seal with the cardboard. Also, the air pressure under the card held it up. For these reasons the card did not fall off and the water did not flow out… at first. We also learned that if somebody pushes the card it will fall off. The teacher was not cross as it was only a bit of craic J!

Junioe Infants did an experiment in Science for Science Week that investigated floating and sinking. 

Firstly, we had to predict whether each object would float or sink, and then we tested the objects in a container of water. We worked in small groups and had to record our findings.